Fresh Perspectives Events

Wake up and be inspired over breakfast at Aston Business School.

Aston academics present innovative, interesting and informative advice on business challenges. Hear the latest research on business solutions shaping essential tool-kits for strategy and management. Learn our recommendations to accelerate business growth and professional development.

Overview

Although Brexit relates to the European Union and is unrelated to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), has the appetite for nationalism shown by the UK public in the result of the Brexit referendum in June 2016 had any impact on the Conservative Party's long-stated desire to repeal the Human Rights Act, which does relate to the ECHR?

Fresh Perspective

Our discussion will address the arguments for and against the UK retaining the Human Rights Act

Benefits of attending

Hear throughout the talk real examples used to supplement the academic findings.

Speaker

Jonathan Finn joined Aston Law in January 2016. He started his professional life at Aston having graduated from Aston University with a degree in Business Administration, French, and Society & Government.

Jonathan completed his GDL and LSF at Wolverhampton University. He qualified as a lawyer with Edge and Ellison Solicitors (now Squire Sanders) in Birmingham. He practised for several years as a qualified lawyer in Birmingham with both Edge and Ellison Solicitors and Price Waterhouse. Jonathan left legal practice to pursue a career in teaching. He completed his PgCE at University of Birmingham and taught GCSE Modern Languages and A Level Law for two years at Great Barr School. He then left secondary school teaching to concentrate on lecturing law. He lectured both undergraduate and postgraduate law students at the College of Law (now the University of Law) in Birmingham for ten years and then at BPP University in Birmingham for a further four and a half years.

Jonathan is module leader for Constitutional and Administrative Law and Employment Law at Aston. In April 2016, he was nominated by students to receive an Aston Astonishing Academic Award.

Travel Information

Car parking is available at the Millennium Point multi-storey car park, which is situated opposite the University Campus. The car park charges £2.90 for 3 hours and £3.60 for 4 hours. The car park can be accessed via Jennens Road. If using a sat nav please use the following post code: B4 7AP. A precise description of how to drive to this car park and then walk to the campus can be found by clicking the following link.

For more information please contact Beth Sadler, Business Partnerships abs_enterprise@aston.ac.uk

Travel Information

Car parking is available at the Millennium Point multi-storey car park, which is situated opposite the University Campus. The car park charges £2.90 for 3 hours and £3.60 for 4 hours. The car park can be accessed via Jennens Road. If using a sat nav please use the following post code: B4 7AP. A precise description of how to drive to this car park and then walk to the campus can be found by clicking the following link.

For more information please contact Beth Sadler, Business Partnerships abs_enterprise@aston.ac.uk

Overview

Speaker

Kalsoom Jaffar is a Teaching Fellow in the Finance Department at Aston Business School.

Kalsoom completed her PhD at Glasgow school of Business and society. She completed her Masters in banking, finance and Risk management from GSBS where she was awarded as best Financial Services Suit student by GCU and Glasgow’s best finance student award by International Financial Services District (IFSD). Her main area of research is historical performance of British banking. Her research also focuses on the effect of changing economic conditions on bank performance and efficiency.

Travel Information

Car parking is available at the Millennium Point multi-storey car park, which is situated opposite the University Campus. The car park charges £2.90 for 3 hours and £3.60 for 4 hours. The car park can be accessed via Jennens Road. If using a sat nav please use the following post code: B4 7AP. A precise description of how to drive to this car park and then walk to the campus can be found by clicking the following link.

For more information please contact Beth Sadler, Business Partnerships abs_enterprise@aston.ac.uk

Travel Information

Car parking is available at the Millennium Point multi-storey car park, which is situated opposite the University Campus. The car park charges £2.90 for 3 hours and £3.60 for 4 hours. The car park can be accessed via Jennens Road. If using a sat nav please use the following post code: B4 7AP. A precise description of how to drive to this car park and then walk to the campus can be found by clicking the following link.

For more information please contact Beth Sadler, Business Partnerships abs_enterprise@aston.ac.uk

Travel Information

Car parking is available at the Millennium Point multi-storey car park, which is situated opposite the University Campus. The car park charges £2.90 for 3 hours and £3.60 for 4 hours. The car park can be accessed via Jennens Road. If using a sat nav please use the following post code: B4 7AP. A precise description of how to drive to this car park and then walk to the campus can be found by clicking the following link.

For more information please contact Beth Sadler, Business Partnerships abs_enterprise@aston.ac.uk

Overview

Join SimkissGuy Recruitment and Aston Business School for this interactive discussion led by Professor Ben Clegg. We will discuss the basics of systems thinking and how it can be used to improve strategic operations management.

This session will give you an opportunity to develop your systems thinking skills to make you a more holistic thinker and become more prepared to become an innovative manager of change. A new technique will be demonstrated and an example given.

Fresh Perspective

Management thinking is all too often constrained by linear and hierarchical thinking, but as we all know organisations and business are usually more complex than this and should not be thought of in this way; so why do we persist in doing so?

The answer is simple - because we rarely know of any alternative.

Professor Clegg will provide you with an alternative by giving you an introduction to systems thinking and prepare you to become an effective agent of improvement.

Benefits of attending

A taste for systems thinking, learn of a specific technique, and a have a chance to become a systems thinker; this could give you an advantage over more traditional thinkers.

A new way to think about challenging and complex issues in operations strategy

Gain a competitive edge on your peers

Speaker

Professor Ben Clegg's research, teaching and consulting activities focus on operations and process improvement. He draws upon theoretical ideas, such as systems thinking and multi-organisation enterprise management, to implement practical solutions for organisations. In turn practical case studies and insights are used to further develop theory about operations and process improvement.

Overview

Speaker

Dr Enrico Onali is a Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Finance at Aston Business School. His research interests lie mainly in the areas of capital markets, banking, and corporate finance. He is a member of the editorial board of The British Accounting Review and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (UK).

Enrico is currently teaching postgraduate modules on Market Microstructure (BFM105) and Security Analysis (BFM119), and an undergraduate module on Further Topics in Derivatives (BF3378). He has been a visiting scholar at the Deutsche Bundesbank and has held visiting teaching appointments at universities in France, Italy, and China.

His research has recently been accepted for publication in leading academic journals such as the Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis and the Journal of Financial Intermediation. For more information on publications, click here.

His work has been presented at global prestigious conferences, such as the annual meetings of the European Finance Association, the SFS Finance Cavalcade, the Financial Management Association, and the Royal Economic Society. Output from the research has also been disseminated in discussion papers of the Deutsche Bundesbank and the European Central Bank.

Enrico has acted as a reviewer for the Financial Stability Working Paper Series of the Bank of England and for academic journals such as: Journal of Banking and Finance; Journal of Business Finance and Accounting; Regional Studies; Economics Letters; The Manchester School; European Journal of Finance; Emerging Markets, Finance and Trade; Journal of Management and Governance; International Journal of Banking, Accounting and Finance; Managerial Finance; Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications; Spatial Economic Analysis.

In an age in which organisations are more diverse than ever, Andrew will discuss how leaders can adapt and refocus in a changing environment with new challenges. Andrew will share insights gleaned from research focused on some of the most stressful and high-pressure jobs in the world, emergency room doctors, astronauts, submarine crews, and apply them to the challenges of the modern, diverse workforce. Drawing on his experience in designing training for high-stress team scenarios, including NASA, the U.S Army, and Navy, along with his own research on diversity in organisations, he willpresent attendees with practical and useful advice.

Benefits of attending

Attendees will learn best practices and strategies to manage diverse teams and promote teamwork and cohesion in a period of particular uncertainty and stress.

Speaker

Andrew Marcinko, M.S. is a PhD Candidate in the Work and Organisational Psychology department at Aston Business School, working under the supervision of Dr Yves Guillaume and Prof Richard Crisp. He completed his master’s and bachelor’s degrees in the United States and was born and raised in the Washington DC area. His current research is focused on diversity and inclusion in the workplace, with a particular focus on training, team performance, and employee well-being.

Previously, Andrew worked in collaboration with the U.S. Navy Submarine School to update its training programs based on the latest teamwork and training research. He was also involved in research for NASA focused on astronaut health and teamwork during deep space exploration, in preparation for a potential manned mission to Mars. In addition to his academic pursuits, Andrew also has industry experience in corporate sales and marketing, along with extensive experience with social media and blogging.

17 November 2016

Planning for sustainable competitive advantage

Scenario Planning has become the most popular strategy tool in the last decade. It is neither a forecasting nor a predicting tool but is used to improve managers’ ability to anticipate uncertainty and in that context to enhance organisational learning. It helps to develop a shared understanding and to scope mental models of perceived uncertainty between managers working in the same organisation.

This session will provide an insight into Dr Stathis Tapinos' Scenario Planning method which links scenario development to the sustainability of competitive advantage in order to support long term strategy making. His method is a multi-stage process; a structured method of disciplined imagination to create plausible images of future scenarios.

Benefits of attending

Learn how organisations understand the current source of competitive advantage and its limitations.

Identify factors of uncertainty for the future; using them to create a range of scenarios and narratives.

Assess the impact of each scenario on the organisation; and developing robust strategies which will protect the sustainability of competitive advantage.

Speaker

Dr Efstathios (Stathis) Tapinos is a Senior Lecturer in Strategic Management at Aston Business School and is currently co-chair of the ‘Strategic Foresight’ Special Interest Group at the British Academy of Management.

His research revolves around strategy development and he has a particular interest in Strategic Foresight, and how companies deal with Perceived Environmental Uncertainty. Within this field, he is researching, teaching and facilitating the use of Scenario Planning as a strategy tool for dealing with uncertainty.

Music by: www.bensound.com

30 November 2016

Inspire entrepreneurship attitudes

We live in an age of increasing turbulence, uncertainty and continuous change. To face these challenges, societies, economies and organisations around the world increasingly require people capable of finding and exploring new opportunities to generate value. This presentation introduces the importance of cultivating an entrepreneurial mindset and discusses ways to develop it

Dr Bruno Oliveira shares his research insight into what inspires entrepreneurial action and how nascent entrepreneurs can be more purposeful in their pursuit of this inspiration. He will also explore the role of emotions (e.g. passion) in promoting or constraining entrepreneurial action in yourself and others.

Benefits of attending

Learn tools for promoting entrepreneurial attitudes within yourself, your team and your business culture.

Speaker

Dr Bruno Oliveira completed his PhD at Aston Business School in April 2013. In June 2013, he became a Lecturer in Entrepreneurship at the University of Bath. He returned to Aston Business School in February 2015 to assume the role of Lecturer in Strategy and Entrepreneurship. Prior to joining academia, Bruno was an entrepreneur who started and managed a company for two years. He then decided to close the business to embrace his PhD. Bruno also worked for the public, the private and the social sector at different points in time.Bruno currently has two streams of research. The first emerges directly from his PhD and focuses on better understanding the use of strategy tools such as SWOT analysis, Porter Five Forces or Scenario Planning. Recently, however, his research is increasingly focusing on entrepreneurship. He is currently studying the practice of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education programs. Bruno is very passionate about creating the best teaching and learning experiences to students and executives. He is continuously improving his teaching methods and truly believes that learning can be more effective if it is fun and based on action-based activities. He teaches at an international level and works closely with executives and organisations to promote learning and management development.

7 December 2016

How businesses can grow by exploiting today's fractured media

First the bad news: the traditional media has declined dramatically in the last 10 years. Then the good news: today’s media has fragmented into multiple parts, giving switched on businesses more opportunities than ever to get their stories across.

Steve Dyson will explain how a fast-changing media is now begging for user-generated content in print, online and on air. He will argue there’s never been a better time to get your brand out there – for free. Dyson will highlight how to stamp your presence on the new media world. And all attendees will receive a ‘Ten top media tips’ handout to remind them.

Speaker

Steve Dyson works as a media trainer, consultant and freelance journalist via Dyson Media Ltd.​ His expertise ranges from print to online, and from radio to TV.

Dyson delivers shorts course in everything from basic grammar to crisis media management. He also created the Business and Finance diploma module for the National Council for the Training of Journalists.

Dyson has edited BQ West Midlands, a business magazine, since 2012, and writes for various media including The Guardian, Press Gazette, HoldtheFrontPage.co.uk and InPublishing. Dyson is a former editor of the Birmingham Mail and the Evening Gazette, Teesside. He has presented daily radio shows and has created scores of news interview programmes for the BBC WM.

Music by: www.bensound.com

14 December 2016

Sustainable brands

In collaboration, Dr Keith Glanfield, Aston Business School and Harris Interactive have taken a long hard look at what makes a brand relevant and sustainable in a modern day context. The prevailing models for measuring brand effectiveness are largely based on examining indicators of past and present performance, and can fall short of telling brand managers anything about their brand’s future potential. What was a strong brand yesterday may still be strong today – but what does tomorrow look like? Will your brand still be as relevant?

Benefits of attending

Learn the thinking and research foundations behind the brand sustainability model, to address the question, “How sustainable is your brand?”.

Hear the results of the hi brands™ research study from the Harris Interactive team, who will share how measuring sustainability changes the way we think about category and sector success.

Understand how this new set of measures supports brand managers to manage and track future brand success.

Speaker

Dr Keith Glanfield is a Lecturer and Senior FME Fellow, joining the Marketing Group at Aston Business School in 2010 having secured a prestigious Foundation for Management Education / ESRC Fellowship awarded to fund Keith’s transition into academia from a 20 year commercial career in industry.

Awarded a Phd in identity and strategic brand management in 2013, Keith’s research interests focus on how to transform and optimise an organisation’s brands to improve organisational performance, sustainability and stakeholder satisfaction. Researching with organisations such as John Lewis and Waitrose, Keith’s research also investigates the influence of co-operative and mutual business models on stakeholder cohesion, brand community development, front-line employee performance and the co-creation of services between customers and service employees.

Keith integrates his research, teaching and engagement with practice as a regular contributor to the Times and Sunday Times, delivering executive education programs, consulting with industry and presenting new research and emerging marketing thinking to members of the Institute of Cost and Management Accountants and the Chartered Institute of Marketing.

18 January 2017

Work-based learning programmes

Degree apprenticeship programmes are a successful and cost effective way to increase skills within your organisation across all grades. Joined by programme managers and partners, will answered questions about the design and delivery of programmes to grow your own graduates.

Benefits of attending

Understand the apprenticeship levy and its implications for your business

Speaker

Having delivered apprenticeships to over 250 apprentices Sasha Morgan Manley has witnessed first hand how apprenticeships can be used as a business growth strategy as well as an amazing opportunity for a young person to start their career. Through Sasha’s experience in this area and her passion to provide an alternative to the traditional university led route into a career, she has been asked to speak at a number of conferences and industry events.

16 February 2017

Re-examining the customer experience

The customer experience (CX) landscape is rapidly changing and with increasing customer expectations it is vital to be proactive rather than reactive. This session with Dr Laura Chamberlain will examine the changing loyalty landscape and question some embedded assumptions about loyalty. In addition, with the increasing emphasis on understanding customer emotions, we will consider the best way to think about customer emotions and measuring them.

Arguably CX is core to competitive advantage and as such many industries and organisations are placing increased emphasis on CX. Whether in a B2C or B2B context, if you have a customer focus, then this presentation is relevant.

Benefits of attending

Challenge your thinking about CX, loyalty, emotions and measurement.

Speaker

Dr. Laura Chamberlain is a Lecturer in the Customer Experience and Consumer Behaviour at Aston University Business School. Laura is particularly interested in researching the importance of consumer emotions, trust, loyalty and how to influence customer’s behaviour. Laura also researches consumer neuroscience, using neuroscientific techniques to further our understanding of consumers. The customer experience landscape is rapidly changing and Laura’s research intends to develop scientific insights to assist Customer Experience professionals.

Laura's research is broadly located within the psychological tradition, containing aspects of the social, cognitive, and neuroscientific approaches. Within this broad context, the specific research areas she works in centre around the concept of consumer responses to marketing actions and the customer experience. I have research projects underway examining consumer emotions, loyalty, advocacy and journeys.

Laura also researches the role of negative emotions in response to advertising that advocates behaviour change (e.g. stopping smoking or not speeding whilst driving). Laura is also involved in research within the emerging field of organizational cognitive neuroscience and have an interest in measurement theory and the philosophy of science.

22 February 2017

Will politics or economics will determine the final outcome

The first guest speaker was Dr Andrew Glencross, Senior Lecturer at the Department of Politics and International Relations, Aston University. Dr Glencross will be presenting the latest research and thinking on different Brexit scenarios. He will reflect on his new book Why the UK Voted for Brexit: David Cameron’s Great Miscalculation (Palgrave, 2016).

The process of leaving the EU is riddled with trade-offs. Putting politics first could carry a high economic cost, notably by limiting EU immigration or exposing UK companies to European tariffs. But pursuing economic interests above all else risks dissatisfying voters who want a clean break.

The talk set out what the policy trade-offs look like for different Brexit scenarios and explains whether politics or economics will determine the final outcome.

Benefits of attending

Understand what the policy trade-offs look like for different Brexit scenarios

Consider whether politics or economics will determine the final outcome

Ask questions to address specific queries

Speaker

Dr Andrew Glencross, Senior Lecturer at the Department of Politics and International Relations, Aston University.

Andrew grew up in the north of England. A graduate of the University of Cambridge (BA Social and Political Studies and M.Phil. Historical Studies) as well as a former Joseph Hodges Choate Fellow at Harvard University from 2000-01.

His PhD studies took him to Florence, where he completed his dissertation at the European University Institute under the supervision of Friedrich Kratochwil. After defending his PhD in 2007, he was a research fellow at the European Union Democracy Observatory for a year working on a project on e-participation in Estonia. From 2008-10 a lecturer in the International Relations Program at the University of Pennsylvania. He returned to Europe in Autumn 2010 to take up a lectureship at the University of Aberdeen, before moving to the University of Stirling in 2013. In January 2017 he began teaching at Aston University in Birmingham.

Tweets @a_glencross

9 March 2017

Apprenticeships offer a ladder of opportunity to all

Sasha Morgan-Manley, Degree Apprenticeship Lead at Aston University shares how Aston can help you transform your employees or new recruits into professionals you can be proud of.

Aston are already working with companies including Virgin Media, Payara, Tarmac and Capgemini,delivering courses ideally suited to their business needs. As the first university to launch degree apprenticeships, we are currently offering undergraduate degree courses in Chartered Management and Digital Technology Solutions. But our portfolio is growing and we want your company to be next.

At this degree apprenticeship Fresh Perspective special:

A Capgemini degree apprentice studying at Aston University share the opportunity, skills and development their apprenticeship has brought them.

Ben Rubery, responsible for the management of Capgemini UK's Advanced, Higher & Degree Apprenticeship programmes, will share his passion for apprenticeships, providing opportunities to enable the start of their careers to be exciting and successful.

Sasha Morgan Manley from Aston University who will explain how your organisation can benefit from apprenticeships.

Speaker

Having delivered apprenticeships to over 250 apprentices Sasha Morgan Manley has witnessed first hand how apprenticeships can be used as a business growth strategy as well as an amazing opportunity for a young person to start their career. Through Sasha’s experience in this area and her passion to provide an alternative to the traditional university led route into a career, she has been asked to speak at a number of conferences and industry events.

16 March 2017

Your role in developing meaningfulness within the team

We often have little time to reflect on what is meaningful and valuable to us at work and how we could make our day-to-day working lives more meaningful. But what if we were given the capacity and capability to do this? Would we be more engaged, more proactive, and more psychologically enriched as a result?

This is an interesting question given the fallout from the global recession and the explosion of interest thereafter in creating an ‘engaged’ and ‘committed’ workforce.

In light of this, this presentation provided an overview of what meaningfulness is within the workplace as well as why it is important, and how managers can foster and nurture meaningfulness within their teams.

Speaker

Dr Luke Fletcher is a Chartered Psychologist and Lecturer in Human Resource Management at Aston Business School.

He is a module leader for a postgraduate module, is part of the teaching team for the Chartered Manager Degree Apprenticeship programme, and supervises both undergraduate and postgraduate dissertations.

Luke has written and presented work for both academic and practitioner audiences, and currently serves on the Editorial Board for the International Journal of Human Resource Management. He is also a reviewer for Human Relations, Human Resource Development Quarterly, and for the Academy of Management Annual Meetings.

This event was cancelled and will be rescheduled.

6 April 2017

This session will outline the key messages and updates of The Chancellor of the Exchequer budget to Parliament. Lara then shares her practical experience of the budget’s impact on businesses from a variety of sectors. Discussing the key issues through case studies you will understand how the budget will impact your businesses. You will hear Lara's practical advice and strategy to be help you prepare informed financial decisions post-budget.

Benefits of attending

Up-to-date knowledge of the latest HM Treasury financial budget

Tools for making informed financial decisions post-budget.

Assess the impact on your company.

Speaker

Lara Geespent the 5 years prior to joining Aston Business School training Chartered Accountants for their professional exams, she has also been involved in authoring and editing taxation study materials for trainee accountants across the UK. Lara specialises in taxation, audit and financial accounting and enjoys bringing practical experience to the lecture room.

Before moving into education Lara trained as a Chartered Accountant (ICAEW) with PWC in Birmingham. The role was varied and included auditing, forensic accounting, due diligence and taxation. She also spent 4 years working for the Audit Commission which involved the audit of various public sector organisations, including hospitals, PCTs and local government.

25 April 2017

How to Prepare the Ground for “Idea Fishing”

The importance of frontline employees for the success of organisations is recognised by researchers and practitioners alike. However their relevance for the innovativeness of companies - resulting from their boundary spanning role - is often underestimated and has received little attention. Based on an academic piece of research, Prof Christof Backhaus summarised the current state of knowledge in this context, and outline results derived from an empirical investigating “idea fishing behaviors” of frontline employees from a diverse range of industrial and business services firms.

Furthermore he assessed the impact of motivators - such as job satisfaction and desire for upward mobility - and the effects of other important conditions like role stress and internal network, on idea gathering and dissemination. Christof shared the results of the study, showing the chain of idea gathering leading to idea dissemination results in innovation. Plus the various effects of role stress underlines the importance of differentiating between role conflict and ambiguity. Based on these findings, he explored the implications for management that are derived.

Speaker

Prof Christof Backhaus, Professor of Marketing, Director of the Aston Centre for Retail Insights, Aston Business School

Christof joined Aston Business School as a Professor and Chair in Marketing in September 2016. Before, he worked as an Assistant Professor at the Universities of Dortmund, Bochum and Braunschweig in Germany, and as a Professor of Marketing at Newcastle University Business School. His research interest lies primarily in the field of Retail and Services Marketing and Management.

His work in these domains has been published in international marketing journals such as the Journal of Business Research, Journal of Retailing, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Small Business Management, Industrial Marketing Management and Psychology & Marketing.

He regularly collaborates with companies such as Allianz SE, Deutsche Bahn AG, Deutsche Telekom AG, Vodafone D2 GmbH, and Volkswagen AG to help resolve issues in the areas of service innovation, customer and partner relationship management, marketing control & monitoring, and sponsorship management.

If you are an innovative company in order to succeed you must make decisions with intellectual property in mind. You need an intellectual property strategy that is in line with your business strategy. You must know what intellectual property you have and what intellectual property of others you might be at risk of infringing. You can use intellectual property information to help you find worldwide competitors, potential partners, collaborators and gaps in the markets. You can use your intellectual property to reduce your tax bill and attract lenders.

You need to know about intellectual property so come and find out from Aston academic Claire Howell. Claire has taught intellectual property law for over 20 years at various universities and specialises in intellectual property in the business context. She will share her expertise and latest insights from her many publications on intellectual property law and company law.

Speaker

Claire Howell teaches company law and intellectual property law at both undergraduate and postgraduate level and is keen to promote excellence in the teaching of intellectual property.

Claire acted as consultant to the European Patent Office in the ‘Roadmap Project’ on teaching intellectual property in the Slovenian universities. On behalf of ECAP111 AUNIP, Claire drafted the Intellectual Property policy template to be used by the universities in the ten countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). She is a founder and coordinator of the European Intellectual Property Teachers’ Network and convener of the Intellectual Property section of the Society of Legal Scholars. As Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy Claire regularly participates in the Research Inspired Teaching Excellence [RITE] Programme.

Claire won a StudentshIP Enterprise Award prize of over £54,000 from the UK Intellectual Property Office with which she established the multidisciplinary PIPE Club [Patenting, Intellectual Property and Entrepreneurship]. She is currently undertaking a joint research project with Ian Combe into "SME leaders’ understandings of trade mark rights and their strategies used to exploit innovation" sponsored by a British Academy / Leverhulme Small Research Grant.

26 May 2017

Corporate governance beyond compliance and how good corporate governance improves the ability to raise finance

The role of the board is crucial in a growing any business - small companies become bigger ones but often they see corporate governance as merely a compliance issue. Graham Robertson, Chairman Corex Group presents corporate governance beyond compliance and how good corporate governance improves the ability to raise finance. He will consider the role of the Chairman, Company directors, board effectiveness, the balance of the board, non-executive directors and the benefits of on-going director education to build a better board.

Graham passionately believes that if you are ambitious for growth or seeking to raise finance for growth it is crucial that the balance the board reflects your aims and ambitions.

Speaker

Graham Robertson - Chairman: Corex Group.

Graham obtained a degree in Geology from the University of Aston and has since spent 40 years working in the international oil industry. Following several years of managing laboratories in the UK and West Africa Graham founded his own oilfield services company in 1987. At this time he gained an ACCA qualification in Accounting and Finance and raised venture capital to undertake several acquisitions including Corex and to grow the business over subsequent years. Today he is Chairman of the Corex Group, which now has operating laboratories in Aberdeen, Cairo and the Middle East.

Graham completed an MBA in 2011; his research thesis was in Corporate Governance linked to investor relations within the Oil Industry. The MBA experience taught Graham that on-going Director education is a real key to the further development of a successful business. Following the MBA, Graham completed the Institute of Directors (IOD) Certificate in Company Direction and then Diploma in Company Direction. He is now his working towards Chartered Director status also through the IOD in London.

Graham has also occasionally lectured on Corporate Governance on the MBA course at Henley Business School and at Reading University and also his local IOD chapter. He also occasionally lectures on Entrepreneurship highlighting the ups and downs of his own personal business journey.

Graham’s interest in Corporate Governance has led to an interest in “Building a Better Board” the subject of the presentation.

Graham is truly enjoying being reunited with Aston and currently involved in several projects with the university.

13 June 2017

What can we learn from politicians about brand success?

Do the phrases “take back control” and “make America great again” ring any bells? I’m sure they do!

Dr Keith Glanfield and Susan Vidler, Head of Research at Harris Interactive discussed if there’s anything marketers can learn from Politicians to enhance branding success and develop category leadership.

Why on earth would business turn to politics and politicians for marketing advice? Well, firms want their brand to sum them up in a few words. They want a brand with wide appeal that can cross traditional boundaries in society and which appeals to many different audiences. A brand can be used to bring together diverse groups, including customers, employees and suppliers, to generate a strong bond and sense of affiliation with the firm.

Dr Keith Glanfield is a Lecturer and Senior FME Fellow, joining the Marketing Group at Aston Business School in 2010 having secured a prestigious Foundation for Management Education / ESRC Fellowship awarded to fund Keith’s transition into academia from a 20 year commercial career in industry.

Awarded a Phd in identity and strategic brand management in 2013, Keith’s research interests focus on how to transform and optimise an organisation’s brands to improve organisational performance, sustainability and stakeholder satisfaction. Researching with organisations such as John Lewis and Waitrose, Keith’s research also investigates the influence of co-operative and mutual business models on stakeholder cohesion, brand community development, front-line employee performance and the co-creation of services between customers and service employees.

Keith integrates his research, teaching and engagement with practice as a regular contributor to the Times and Sunday Times, delivering executive education programs, consulting with industry and presenting new research and emerging marketing thinking to members of the Institute of Cost and Management Accountants and the Chartered Institute of Marketing.

15 June 2017

What are the long and short term consequence of Brexit on UK interest groups?

The question of a fallout from Brexit is hunting a number of analysts. The trend in mushrooming publications (see for example: German Law Journal, Special supplement printed on Brexit already early July 2016) and media coverage (with the Guardian and Politico.eu taking lead) confirms it. Most of the analysts draw a distinction between the immediate-short term effect of the “leave” result stemming from the referendum and the long-term consequences of the UK going out of the European Union (EU). A similar approach can be deployed while looking at the changes that will emerge regarding the UK interest groups’ lobbying capacity.

Dr. Patrycja Rozbicka talk focused on identifying the short and long term consequences and how to counterbalance them.

Understand what the implications of different Brexit scenarios

Consider what will determine the final outcome

Ask questions to address specific queries

Speaker

Dr. Patrycja Rozbicka main area of research circulates around participation of interest groups in the European and national policy-making and transposition processes; which includes questions like: How influential are interest groups in the politics? Access routes for lobbyists and their effectiveness? And, regulation of interest groups access to policy-makers.

Patrycja joined the School in 2015, having previously worked as a post-doc and lecturer at the Ruhr University Bochum, Germany. Prior to coming to the United Kingdom, Patrycja held appointments at the University of Victoria, BC, Canada, visiting researcher post at the Institute of European Studies, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium, and finished her PhD at the European University Institute, Florence, Italy.

26 July 2017

Encouraging employee social responsibility

When thinking of corporate social responsibility (CSR), the focus tends to be at the organisational level and on what organisations 'do' which is socially responsible. It is argued that greater attention also needs to be placed within the organisation, on the employees. How can we encourage employees to further their individual social responsibility efforts?

Dr Nishat Babu, lecturer in work psychology focused on research conducted at Aston Business School on a number of organisational factors that may be relevant in promoting employee social responsibility efforts.

Speaker

Dr Nishat Babu is a Business Psychologist and Lecturer in the Work and Organisational Psychology Group at Aston Business School, with expertise in a number of areas; including leadership, global working, and effective team work. Her research interests centre on leadership and corporate social responsibility (CSR) at the micro-levels. Currently, she is focusing on leadership and organisational climate, and the role they play in facilitating employee engagement with CSR at multiple levels within the organisation. She has developed a unique multi-dimensional tool to measure employee social responsibility in the workplace, and has applied this in her research with organisations looking to enhance their CSR profile. Nishat holds a Master’s in Work and Organisational Psychology, and a PhD in Management

10 October 2017

Switching costs and customer retention

Customers from numerous firms regularly have the feeling of being “locked-in” in with their current provider due to the presence of switching costs. Switching costs are the onetime costs that customers associate with the process of switching from one provider to another (Burnham et al. 2003). They include customer perception of time, effort, and losses associated with provider switching. This presentation provides new insights into the effectiveness of this retention strategy.

It also shows which customer segments to target as a company. While it is obvious that customers with prior switching experience and provider expertise are less likely to be bound by switching costs, it is unclear whether customers differ with regard to switching costs perceptions depending on other customer characteristics (e.g., age, gender, income, risk aversion).

Markus Blut is professor and chair in marketing at Aston Business School. Before joining Aston University, he worked as professor of marketing at Newcastle University Business School (UK). During the last years, he was invited as visiting professor by the University of Alabama (USA), Florida Atlantic University (USA), and Curtin University (AUS).

His research interests are related to service and retail marketing/management. He has published more than 150 articles in established journals, books, proceedings, and journals.

He regularly works together with international firms on joint research and consulting projects including BMW, Borussia Dortmund, Claas, Dr. Oetker, Henkel-Ecolab, KarstadtQuelle Bank, Karstadt Warenhaus, McDonald's, Mercedes-Benz, Merck, Procter and Gamble, Robert Bosch, and T-Mobile International among many others.

26 October 2017

Brexit and the UK's music industry

The British music industry was worth a stunning £4.1 billion in 2014. The corner stone of the sector are live music events. The most recent data indicates that this particular sub-sector generated £924 million and employed 25,100 full-time employees in 2015, with stunning number of 27.7 million people attending live music events. The numbers clearly show that the value of that sub-sector should not be underestimated.

In the mists of the Brexit debate, there are number of scenarios to consider. The two readily available ones are the scenarios of Norway-Switzerland and Northern America (US and Canada). Lets focus on those and their effects on the British live music industry.

Dr. Patrycja Rozbicka main area of research circulates around participation of interest groups in the European and national policy-making and transposition processes; which includes questions like: How influential are interest groups in the politics? Access routes for lobbyists and their effectiveness? And, regulation of interest groups access to policy-makers.

Patrycja joined the School in 2015, having previously worked as a post-doc and lecturer at the Ruhr University Bochum, Germany. Prior to coming to the United Kingdom, Patrycja held appointments at the University of Victoria, BC, Canada, visiting researcher post at the Institute of European Studies, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium, and finished her PhD at the European University Institute, Florence, Italy.

28 September 2017

Creative Brand Development

Most strategic thinking in marketing revolves around an outside-in approach so business leaders are encouraged to conduct marketing research to find out what customers want and what competitors are offering, externally, before developing strategies internally. However, this approach has some serious limitation especially when developing and strengthening brands. One major issue is that customers and consumers cannot articulate what they want, creatively, in ways that are not currently available.

An inside-out approach to strategic thinking is required for creative brand development; when more substantial changes to a brand are needed. This session will highlight a creative brand development process and give examples to outline how this was successfully implemented based on action research projects conducted by the presenter.

Speaker

Dr Ian Combe is a lecturer in marketing strategy at Aston Business School. Ian's research interests lay in a range of topics that interface between marketing and strategic management such as strategic orientation, strategic flexibility, strategy practice and managing service quality. He is experienced in conducting case study research and in the use of cognitive research methods such as sorting technique, laddering technique and cognitive mapping. His work has been published or is forthcoming in journals such as The Leadership Quarterly, European Journal of Marketing, Journal of Strategic Marketing, Journal of Marketing Management and Managerial Auditing.

30 November 2017

Bridging the Skills Gap

There is a growing gap, locally and across the UK, between the skills businesses need and the skills job applicants have.

A new project called Higher Level Skills Match (HLSM)* has been set up to support SMEs in accessing the talent and skills they need, but they want to hear from businesses to find out what it is they want and need to grow the business.

Speaker

Higher Level Skills Match (HLSM) has been created with and for businesses to support SME growth and employability within the Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership (GBSLEP) Area. Birmingham City University, Aston University and Newman University have partnered to create HLSM, with the support of Cannock Chase, Lichfield and Tamworth local authorities. This project is part funded by the European Social Fund (ESF). For more information visit www.aston.ac.uk/hlsm

13 February 2018

Systems Thinking

This interactive discussion led by Professor Ben Clegg discussed the basics of systems thinking and how it can be used to improve strategic operations management.

The session gave attendees an opportunity to develop systems thinking skills to make them a more holistic thinker and become more prepared to become an innovative manager of change. A new technique was demonstrated and an example given.

Management thinking is all too often constrained by linear and hierarchical thinking, but as we all know organisations and business are usually more complex than this and should not be thought of in this way; so why do we persist in doing so? The answer is simple - because we rarely know of any alternative.

Professor Clegg provided an alternative by giving attendees an introduction to systems thinking to prepare them to become an effective agent of improvement.

Benefits of attending

A taste for systems thinking, learn of a specific technique, and a chance to become a systems thinker; this could give you an advantage over more traditional thinkers.

A new way to think about challenging and complex issues in operations strategy

Gain a competitive edge on your peers

Speaker

Professor Ben Clegg's research, teaching and consulting activities focus on operations and process improvement. He draws upon theoretical ideas, such as systems thinking and multi-organisation enterprise management, to implement practical solutions for organisations. In turn practical case studies and insights are used to further develop theory about operations and process improvement.

20 February 2018

“Living” the brand - an unachievable, outdated and irrelevant distraction?

Many marketers and organisations set themselves the challenge of wanting their stakeholders, particularly their employees, to “Live the brand” and in doing so create a distinct “brand experience” for their customers.

Some would like to think they’ve achieved this objective but many don’t. Why is this, what are we “really” trying to achieve, what can we do differently and by addressing “Living the brand” are we really addressing the core underlying phenomena of “brand experience”.

Join Aston Business School or this short workshop led by Dr Keith Glanfield. Keith will ask your views on living the brand, arriving at what it means and trying to achieve. We will then explore how to get employees to do this, what the difficulties and challenges are and how achievable this all is. Keith will share the latest thinking on the “identity perspective” to branding and we will finish with a short discussion.

Applying organisational psychology to branding uncovers an alternative way of “creating an environment” for brand experience to evolve and develop. In a workshop style we’ll unpick the conventional “living the brand” approaches to arrive at an alternative perspective on developing brand experience.

Benefits of attending

Walk away with a new set of questions and a different approach to evolving and developing “brand experience”.

Think behind the conventional models and terminology to see if they work in your organisation.

Debate and develop this important topic with other senior managers, marketers and entrepreneurs.

Speaker

Dr Keith Glanfield is a Lecturer and Senior FME Fellow, joining the Marketing Group at Aston Business School in 2010 having secured a prestigious Foundation for Management Education / ESRC Fellowship awarded to fund Keith’s transition into academia from a 20 year commercial career in industry.

Awarded a Phd in identity and strategic brand management in 2013, Keith’s research interests focus on how to transform and optimise an organisation’s brands to improve organisational performance, sustainability and stakeholder satisfaction. Researching with organisations such as John Lewis and Waitrose, Keith’s research also investigates the influence of co-operative and mutual business models on stakeholder cohesion, brand community development, front-line employee performance and the co-creation of services between customers and service employees.

Keith integrates his research, teaching and engagement with practice as a regular contributor to the Times and Sunday Times, delivering executive education programs, consulting with industry and presenting new research and emerging marketing thinking to members of the Institute of Cost and Management Accountants and the Chartered Institute of Marketing.

Since the global financial crisis, real incomes have fallen, cuts to public services have been dramatic and interest rates have hit record lows. A decade on - and a weak and inconsistent recovery later - has led to the question, what lessons have we learnt if any?

More importantly, why are we still witnessing housing bubbles and rapid expansions in consumer credit across the world?

Johan Rewilak presents evidence on the importance of maintaining financial stability - and how financial instability is a phenomenon that depresses the economy even in the absence of a full-blown crisis.

He will discuss which various measures of financial instability are seen to peak prior to financial crisis and shows how more financially stable economies can withstand surges of credit inflows that have jeopardised economies in the past.

Benefits of attending

Examine the new schemes and regulations put in place by various multilateral organisations in an effort to try clean up the banking system, and discusses what we may expect to see in the future. Hear throughout the talk real examples used to supplement the academic findings.

Speaker

Johan Rewlaikjoined Aston Business School in May 2016 after spending two years working close to his hometown in West Yorkshire, at the University of Huddersfield as a lecturer in economics.

Prior to that he spent almost ten years in the East Midlands studying at both the University of Leicester and the University of Nottingham. He also worked as a research associate on an ESRC-DFID funded project “Finance, politics and growth” which had a strong focus on Africa.

Outside academia he has a strong interest in sports. A keen runner and footballer, he has competed at a high level in both.

10 April 2018

What marketers do every day, and what organisations want them to do is constantly changing and evolving.

Initial research conducted by Aston Business School suggests “marketing” is at a tipping point. It’s very purpose, function and activity are under challenge. This workshop explored this research and discussed how marketing is changing, it’s potential future shape and what contribution it can make to business performance.

Benefits of attending

Throughout the talk real examples were used to supplement the academic findings.

Speaker

Dr Keith Glanfield is a Lecturer and Senior FME Fellow, joining the Marketing Group at Aston Business School in 2010 having secured a prestigious Foundation for Management Education / ESRC Fellowship awarded to fund Keith’s transition into academia from a 20 year commercial career in industry.

Awarded a Phd in identity and strategic brand management in 2013, Keith’s research interests focus on how to transform and optimise an organisation’s brands to improve organisational performance, sustainability and stakeholder satisfaction. Researching with organisations such as John Lewis and Waitrose, Keith’s research also investigates the influence of co-operative and mutual business models on stakeholder cohesion, brand community development, front-line employee performance and the co-creation of services between customers and service employees.

Keith integrates his research, teaching and engagement with practice as a regular contributor to the Times and Sunday Times, delivering executive education programs, consulting with industry and presenting new research and emerging marketing thinking to members of the Institute of Cost and Management Accountants and the Chartered Institute of Marketing.

Investor protection regulation should thus address these marketing practices and include mechanisms curbing behavioural exploitation. That raises the question whether the marketing communications regime of the new Markets in Financial Instruments Directive can live up to this demand.

Fresh perspective

This presentation sits at the intersection between behavioural finance and law. Martin will use the law governing marketing materials as a discussion starter for the bigger debate on how behavioural insights about retail investors' behavioural biases can be integrated into investor protection measures.

Benefits of attending

This debate is highly relevant for businesses as it directly impacts on what is required by an investment firm in order to conduct its business in a fair way.

Martin's findings are also relevant for the new hot investor protection topic in MiFID II, product governance, and the requirements relating to providing investment advice. He will address these wider implications in his presentation.

Speaker

Martin Brenncke joined Aston Law School in August 2017 after spending two years at Oxford University as a career development fellow. Martin’s research interests lie in financial services law, EU law, (comparative) constitutional law and legal methodology. In the past, he was a post-doc at Zurich University (CH) and a visiting fellow/researcher at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (London), the British Institute of International and Comparative Law (London) and the University of Cambridge.

12 June 2018

As knowledge based services have become increasingly important, traditional managerial responsibilities such as measuring performance, improving quality and controlling processes have become more difficult.

Variable customer demands make processes difficult to control, reliance on expert knowledge makes quality hard to measure, while building the service on the knowledge of employees makes managing people a challenge. This presentation will illustrate how these challenges make life difficult for a small company as its success leads to rapid expansion.

Fresh perspective

The service concept – i.e. the mental picture of the service – is seen as a key part of service design and strategy. This presentation will demonstrate how articulating the service concept helps to diagnose the challenges of professional services by revealing the inconsistencies between how managers, employees and customers understand the service.

Benefits of attending

The presentation will help you to relate the challenges of managing services to those faced by other organisations and explore how the service concept can help overcome these challenges to create successful service experiences.

Speaker

Dr Ahmad Beltaguiis a Lecturer in Project and Operations Management. He holds degrees in Engineering (MEng Product Design Engineering, University of Strathclyde) and Management (PhD Operations Management, University of Nottingham).

Ahmad joined Aston Business School in 2017. Prior to that he was a Research Fellow at Nottingham University Business School, then Lecturer in Operations Management at University of Wolverhampton.

He is also involved in research projects and collaborative bid writing. His current research interests include design, innovation and supply chain management, with a particular emphasis on Additive Manufacturing/3D Printing and its innovation potential.

Ahmad is interested in research related to design, innovation and service management. His work has been published in Journal of Product Innovation Management, International Journal of Operations & Production Management, Creativity & Innovation Management, Design Management Journal and Games & Culture. As well as in numerous conferences on innovation, operations, service management and design management. Topics he has investigated and continue to be interested in include servitization/product-service systems, customer experience, design thinking and design's contribution to management, value creation in online social networks and ecosystems as a metaphor for supply chain management.